Highlands Performing Arts Center Director of Operations Jack Austin hasn’t seen 2023 Best Picture winner “Oppenheimer” yet.
“I have to want to see a movie incredibly badly, to drive down all that way to Franklin,” he said.
Fortunately, now he’ll have a way to see numerous movies if he wants to, once the PAC opens up its new movie theater this summer – right in time for the blockbusters of the year. The PAC has set up a whole movie theater on its campus inside the Martin Lipscomb Theater.
“Having a theater here will be a game changer,” Austin said.
Erik Bishop, who works numerous jobs at the theater and will be the technical director for the theater, specifically chose “Oppenheimer” to test the theater’s enhanced sound capabilities – they upgraded to Dolby 7.1 Cinema Surround Sound to get the optimal effect.
In particular, he used the climactic scene in the middle of the movie in which the atom bomb is tested in the New Mexico desert.
“Oppenheimer is mixed really loudly,” he warned before starting the scene to test the sound and video.
Bishop talked enthusiastically about being able to show “Oppenheimer” and other movies at the theater.
According to Austin, the PAC theater will show just-released blockbusters along with some classic films and recent Oscar winners as well. Most of what they show will be appropriate for a wide range of ages, he said, to make sure there’s something for everyone.
As a fan of many art forms, both men also said it would be a good opportunity to allow for screenings of other things like Broadway musicals in the future, and they’ll use the sound system to enhance other live theatrical productions as well, so the entire PAC is getting an upgrade.
The theater will be open sometime in the summer, but they didn’t have an exact opening date yet, Bishop said – they’re currently going through paperwork to get contracts with the major film studios to release their films in Highlands.
“It’s all just paperwork now,” Bishop said, noting that they were “in the final stretch.”
Austin said their goal was to add more amenities in Highlands.
“This is something we’re doing for the community,” he said. “We’re making a more livable town for Highlands. If we can’t go to the culture, we’d like to bring the culture to the mountains.”
He added that while the pandemic had ushered in a shift to watching movies at home on streaming services, the PAC wants to bring a more authentic theater experience to the area.
“Movies aren’t in theaters long before they hit streaming, but there’s something about going to a theater. We want people to have that experience,” Austin said.